One killed in fresh violence as UN Security Council arrives in Burundi

Update:
January, 22/2016 - 15:17

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BUJUMBURA, Burundi — At least one person waskilled as gunfire and explosions rocked the Burundi capital on Thursday evening, alocal official and witnesses said, just as a UN Security Council delegationarrived to push for an end to months of political unrest.

One youth was shot dead by police after a grenade went off in Bujumbura's north-eastern Mutakura area, a local administrative source said, adding that asecond person was injured by gun shots. The information was confirmed byseveral witnesses.

Explosions and gunfire were also heard between 6:30 pm and 8:00 pm (1630-1800 GMT) in the central Bwiza district, in southern Musaga neighbourhoodand in the north of the city, residents said.

The unrest erupted shortly after UN Security Council ambassadors landed inBujumbura to push the government to hold serious talks with the opposition andaccept peacekeepers.

The delegation is seeking an end to the violence that has gripped thecountry since last April, when President Pierre Nkurunziza's announced hisultimately successful re-election bid.

Upon arrival on Thursday, the UN team was greeted by hundreds of protestersbacking the government, carrying signs in English that said "genocide will nothappen" and "stop interfering in Burundian affairs".

At a meeting planned for Friday, the council hopes to persuade Nkurunzizato agree to an African Union proposal of 5,000 peacekeepers, which hisgovernment has branded an "invasion force."

AU Commission chief Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma expressed "the fervent hope"that the UNSC ambassadors will "contribute toward achieving" the rapiddeployment of the peacekeepers and the "immediate resumption of theinter-Burundian dialogue," in reference to stalled talks between the governmentand opposition.

Two former Burundian presidents also appealed to the UNSC to take actionand pleaded for an AU force to be sent to the country.

"We really need that force," said Domitien Ndayizeye, who led thelandlocked nation from 2003-2005.

The UN must "stop this bloodletting that is making our young peopledisappear," added Jean-Baptiste Bagaza, in power from 1976-1987.

Discussion of the peacekeeper deployment is expected to be a key element oftalks at the AU summit in Ethiopia on January 30-31.

An AU deadline for Burundi to accept the force has long passed with noaction yet taken to deploy the peacekeepers, named the African Prevention andProtection Mission in Burundi (MAPROBU). — AFP